Boston Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo added another win to his resume this season when he backstopped the Bruins to a 3-1 home win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
Korpisalo has been a consistent goalie for the Bruins since coming over in the deal between the Bruins and Senators that sent Linus Ullmark to Ottawa this summer.
Since arriving in Boston, Korpisalo has improved on his save percentage, goals against average and win percentage compared to his previous season in Ottawa and has racked up a 7-3-1 record.
While Korpisalo’s numbers are trending in the right direction in Boston, the Bruins’ No. 1 goalie, Jeremy Swayman, has experienced a downward shift from what was an All-Star year last year.
Swayman has struggled more this year than in the past, which is reflected in his career worst save percentage (.887) and goals against average (3.13).
Some key differences for Swayman this season are his absence from training camp amid contract negotiations and his greater workload. And now that the Bruins are 35 games into the season, and Swayman has 24 starts under his belt, it’s fair to shift the focus away from the effects of missing training camp to whether the workload has become a reason for Swayman’s more recent struggles.
And the numbers bear out that Swayman has struggled in particular as he accumulates more starts in a row.
Swayman’s starts have had diminishing returns -- five times this season Swayman has played three or more games in a row, but he has never won his third start.
Here’s a chart Swayman’s results when he’s started three games in a row:
Swayman’s third starts in a row have been some of his worst games of the season, and his loss on Dec. 10 to Winnipeg when he gave up eight goals was his career-worst goals allowed in a game.
Previously in his career, Swayman had rarely played more than two consecutive games. The only time Swayman played more than two games in a row last season was when Ullmark was out with injury for a six-game stretch last January and when the Bruins decided to ride Swayman in the playoffs.
So, would limiting his starts to two in a row have a positive effect on his performances?
It’s worked in the past.
In the two seasons of the Ullmark-Swayman duo, both goalies experienced some of the best stretches of play in their careers. In those two seasons, the Ullmark-Swayman tandem combined for 65 wins, setting an NHL record in the 2022-23 season, the same year Ullmark won the Vezina. In 2023-24, Swayman was an NHL All-Star and won his first playoff series.
In those seasons, Swayman split the net with Ullmark close to evenly. Last regular season, Swayman started 43 games and Ullmark started 39. The season before that, Ullmark had the majority of regular season starts with 48, while Swayman had 33. This is the first year of his career that Swayman is on pace to start more than 50 games, and the first time that he’s regularly played more than two games in a row.
The next question is: can Korpisalo handle more games?
As of Monday, Korpisalo is on pace for 26 starts this season and Swayman is on pace for 56. But, Korpisalo has handled bigger minutes in the past. He’s logged more than 30 starts in five of his previous nine seasons, with a career-most 55 starts last year in Ottawa.
So, should the Bruins be playing Korpisalo more?
So far he’s yet to play back-to-back games this season, but has handled the starts he’s been given successfully and has come up with some timely saves when the Bruins have needed him to.
Korpisalo’s advanced stats show that he’s also been more effective than Swayman at handling high-danger chances.
Out of 55 goalies who have played more than 600 minutes, Korpisalo ranks sixth-best in high-danger save percentage (.849), meaning he has been one of the best goalies in the league at saving the most dangerous shots. Swayman, meanwhile, ranks dead last (.711).
Simply put, Korpisalo has been reliable for the Bruins when they’ve needed him to make big saves.
So, maybe it’s time for the Bruins to rotate their goalies more. Giving Korpisalo more ice time would reward his strong play so far, as well as give Swayman more rest. And maybe a little more rest and a little less pressure could do Swayman some good.